Product Description

Brutal and hard but exciting and surprisingly melodic, DIRTmade Alice In Chains national stars in 1992 after being around the Seattle alternative rock scene for many years. They produce a blindingly together sound, with the bass of Mike Starr able to switch between following the bass drum beat andcloning Jerry Cantrell's guitar note for note, albeit a fewoctaves lower. They have such polish that they are often reminiscent of the heyday of Led Zeppelin. Lyrically they plough the familiar angst furrow with tracks such as 'Junkhead','Sickman' and 'God Smack'. Equally satisfying are 'Them Bones' and 'Rooster', which saw them start in a direction that led to Jar Of Flies two years later.

Track Listing

1. Them Bones
2. Dam That River
3. Rain When I Die
4. Sick Man
5. Rooster
6. Junkhead
7. Dirt
8. God Smack
9. Hate To Feel
10. Angry Chair
11. Down In A Hole
12. Would

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6023 in Music
• Released on: 2001-12-10
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import

Amazon.co.uk Review
Alice In Chains were initially tagged with the "grunge" moniker, when in fact their haunting, ponderous sound was far closer to the progressive rock of Queensryche. Their second album Dirt was a moody, portentous affair, filled with occasionally inspired riffing from guitar-player Jerry Cantrell and hair-tossed wailing from singer Layne Staley. Perhaps the band got lumped in with Generation X because of their lyrics--depression, death and drugs. Certainly, titles like "Down In A Hole, "Junkhead" and "Hate To Feel" didn't leave much room for doubt as to what Cantrell's particular passion was for. The quartet did have a slightly lighter, almost poppy side to them, though, as "God Smack" and Hate To Feel" indicated. In the main, however, Dirt was classic angst rock, of the style their peers Pearl Jam had made so popular. --Everett True

Customer Reviews

Grunge `N' Roses- A Metalheads Review

Don't try and hide it boys and girls you can call Alice in Chains "heavy freaking doom" all you want...but you can't the simple fact that this is grunge, although grunge itself is a totally meaningless term invented by people who wanted a umbrella term for a bunch of bands in plaid shirts. Actually, not quite as Alice in Chains never quite decided whether they wanted to be Mudhoney or Guns `N' Roses, but that makes this infinitely more appealing to we metal fans than the more punky and less musical end of grunge.

So what we have here is the uneasy marriage (ideologically at least) between the Seattle sound and straight ahead heavy metal/hard rock. But although metal or grunge purists (y'know the guy who looks like Kurt Cobain at your school?) may have a problem with this, musically for the most part it works and `Dirt' is not only one of the best albums to come out of the early 1990s alternative rock scene, it's also one of the most metal friendly and musically accomplished.

Yet we do have some crap here, some stinkers that are relics of an era that to my ears at least are as every bit as dated as `Cherry Pie', albeit in a completely different way. The numbers which don't work as well are generally when the band try something more aggressive or sludgy, but rather than achieving this with success it just turns out to be the kind of crap that would of most certainly had Jonathan Davis creaming his ever so baggy shorts in glee. `God Smack' is one of these numbers, for the most part it sounds like retarded junky music (ala Nirvana, at their worse, they actually had some good songs y'know!) with a silly funky middle section. `Angry Chair' could have been good, its got some nice riffs but the vocal delivery ruins it( in places) ...Jonathan Davis would love this song for Christmas! Actually, the chorus is pretty good, but the `ohs' and `heys' ruin it. `Junkhead' again is annoying silly junky music, the verses are pretty lame... "I had a good time on drugs!" whoa freak out squares man! Heroin, isn't actually that great boys and girls, Lemmy doesn't like heroin and Layne Staley's 2 week undiscovered corpse and reeky putrefaction apartment tell a different story. But again the song has some saving graces, the chorus is catchy (albeit silly lyrically, but who knows maybe a grunge band has a sense of humour) and the guitar interlude is nice and melodic.

Despite some typically early 90s teenage angst that would later manifest itself into the ultimate abomination of nu-metal this album features some marvellous songs that transcend the silly grunge scene that was every bit as self parody as glam or Grim Reaper styled heavy metal excess. `Them Bones' is one of these great songs; short, sharp and heavy with the sort of riff that Zakk Wylde is just too much of a cretin to write (not that its that clever a riff, its just Zakk really is that thick *pinched harmonic*). `Dam That River' again is full of crushing riffs, if this album had continued like this I would have absolutely no qualms in calling this heavy metal (as it stands `Dirt' is firmly within the grunge `n' roses section of your local record shop). `Rain When I Die' perfectly displays the whole mixture of grunge and more typical melodic rock; the instrumentation in verses is total 90s fare all sludgy and moody and then the chorus is total 80s hair metal. One part of this song is saying "oh well whatever...never mind" and then the next minute its "Whoa living on a prayer!" a strange brew but it works wonderfully well. Its like having hair like the guys (chicks?) from Poison and a plaid shirt. `Rooster' is one of the bands more famous songs and basically its no less a power ballad than `Here I Go Again'. The vocal harmonies are wonderfully sweet and the chorus' memorable. `Down In A Hole' is without doubt the bands finest achievement. No grungy rubbish here just excellent song writing and even a bit of harmonised lead guitar with emphasises the lush melodic feel of the song, again I suppose it's a bit of a power ballad. The vocal harmonies are something of beauty, full of life and emotion unlike the seemingly forced bitter vocal deliver on the albums weaker tracks. `Would?' is another masterpiece soulful and mournful done exceptionally well, the whole song just washes over you like the flood in the lyrics (which is undoubtedly a drug metaphor of sorts). The vocals again are beautiful, Layne Staley was in my mind far more of a loss to the rock world than Kurt Cobain ever could have been...but then its not really a "my dead junky is better than yours" competition (these competitions are generally limited to Middlesbrough).

Performance wise this band is totally about the vocals and guitar, which are the best in the whole grunge scene (I still feel dirty about saying the G word). The vocals for the most part are soulful and moving somewhat justifying Layne Staley's "grunge Jesus" status. Y'know grunge Jesus? Where your blonde poster boy lead singer lives a troubled brief existence and dies due to heroin, Kurt Cobain was a grunge Jesus too...and now all the grunge kids hold candle masses for the deceased grunge icons who will one day return seeking vengeance against the tempter, the she devil, the master of abortions...Courtney Love! Jerry Cantrell is undoubtedly a great guitarist with a technical flair that his generally more ham fisted contemporaries can't match. His riffs are memorable and solos although perhaps not as good as on `facelift' are still better than the rest of the grunge movement's. The rhythm section however is better dull, honestly these guys don't do much of interest. They aren't taking much away but they aren't adding sufficiently either. The sound they have is poor too, especially the bass which suffers from being too sludgy.

So this will never entirely be my cup of tea ( which is heavy metal served straight from Melissa's skull...no King you can't have it back!) and I'll always feel slightly awkward listening to a band who are part of grunge (a term that's meaningless but still strikes fear into the hearts of men and the chicks from Poison), but this album is good with moments of true greatness. Also of note is the whole bloody thing is about heroin, which if you ask me is pretty lazy, I mean is one song about fairies and dragons too much to ask? Heavy metal is still the law, but if you feel like deviating too more heretical art forms you could do a lot worse than `Dirt'...just hide it under your bed and don't tell your friends. Oh, I had great fun with this review now I'm off to polish my Saxon vinyl's.

Awesome
This isn't just the best grunge album ever made. It's quite simply one of the best ever rock albums ever made.

wow
this is the best grunge album ever made....and quite possibly one the best rock/metal albums ever made it really is that simple.
this is a towering masterpiece of rock music. the production and mix of the album is similarly fautless making sure that you dont miss a sinlge beat or cymbal tap.
the riffs are brilliantly matched to layne stayley's anguished howl.
this is effectively the diary of a drug addict and there are very few other albums that come close to scratching the surface of the emotional out pourings layered in this album.
the tracks arent as heavy as the follow up album and have a darker feel than the previous album....but it is a masterpiece.
the star is layne...the man cant sing...but his voice perfectly fits this band and there are very few other performances by anyone that i have heard that can match the emotional effec of his performance on this album.
this album can make you want to bang your head and cry usually within about 30 seconds of each other.
a complex myriad of emotions and feelings will engulf you on this album.
absolutley faultless.